


Gingerbread

by aflawedfashion



Category: Defiance (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Femslash, Fluff, Holidays, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21814690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aflawedfashion/pseuds/aflawedfashion
Summary: Irisa and Berlin bake gingerbread cookies for a winter festival, finding ways to make the job a little more entertaining.
Relationships: Irisa Nolan/Jessica “Berlin” Rainer
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Gingerbread

Soft Christmas music played on the radio as a steady snowfall painted the town of Defiance a sparkling shade white. It was the perfect winter day to spend in front of a warm oven, enjoying the cinnamon scent of baking cookies. 

"I hate this," Berlin grumbled as she half-heartedly frosted a grouchy face onto a modest gingerbread man, giving sideways glances to Irisa's significantly more impressive cookie as she worked.

Standing side by side in an industrial kitchen, having both volunteered to bake cookies for the winter festival, their attitudes were polar opposites. While Berlin sighed and shifted from foot to foot in boredom, Irisa was engrossed in her work, undistracted by any noise from outside or any comment Berlin made about the outdated songs on the radio.

"The first time I got roped into this, I hated it too, but I've learned to see the positive in it," Irisa said.

"What positive?" Berlin dotted little buttons on her cookie’s uniform, forming a crooked line. Just as she was about to remove the buttons and try again, she hesitated, deciding to give her cookie a backstory to explain his rough appearance. She decided that he had gotten a little tipsy at a Christmas party, dancing and singing all night with no care for his uniform. "We're not even allowed to eat these, which is the only positive part of baking as far as I'm concerned." 

"They make the kids happy," Irisa said. "And kids deserve to be happy, especially after how hard the last few years have been." 

"Stop being so reasonable." Berlin frowned at her cookie, trying to figure out a way to salvage it. "You know I enjoy arguing with you, so why would you say things I can't argue with?" Berlin's frown transformed into a smile as she drew vampire fangs on her cookie. "Are you high?" She asked Irisa. "Is that why you're having so much fun with this?" 

"I am not high." Irisa looked up from her cookie. "This is art. Edible art." 

"Yeah, ok, that answer isn't helping your case."

"I am  _ not _ high," Irisa repeated with added force, practically daring Berlin to challenge her again until her gaze dropped to Berlin's cookie. "What did you do to it?"

"I frosted it." 

"It has fangs."

"It's a gingerbread vampire." Berlin playfully chomped her teeth. "Beware his sugary wrath." 

"Berlin, this is Christmas, not Halloween." 

"What does that matter? They're both old earth holidays that neither of us celebrated as children. Why follow the rules? Why not have vampires on Christmas?"

"Because kids don't need a holiday about monsters and death. They need a positive holiday." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Berlin picked up her cookie and bit off the head. Once again, Irisa was being annoyingly reasonable. "For the kids."

Irisa gave Berlin an exasperated glare. "You're not supposed to eat them."

"You said it yourself - it had fangs. I couldn't give it to the kids like that." She held out the headless cookie to Irisa. "Here, have a bite. Live a little." 

"I can't." 

"Come on." Berlin dangled the headless cookie in front of Irisa. "You know you want to." 

"If I try this cookie, will you take this seriously and decorate the rest for the kids?"

"Yes, I promise." She pushed the cookie forward. "A little sugar rush will do you good." 

Irisa grabbed the cookie, taking a bite as Berlin began to rummage through the cupboards.

"What are you looking for?" Irisa asked. 

"This," Berlin said, pulling out a bottle of wine and two glasses. "You need to lighten up, and I need something to make this bearable." 

She filled the glasses and handed one to Irisa, who, quite surprisingly, took it without argument.

With the raise of an eyebrow, Berlin asked, "you're not going to tell me this is unprofessional? That we're violating some unwritten code of ethics?" 

"No," Irisa said.

"Why not?"

"Because…" Irisa smiled and shrugged. "Because adults need to enjoy the holidays too." 

—-

Two hours later, Alak Tarr entered the kitchen to pick up the cookies for the festival, his toddler son bouncing at his heels, motivated purely by a desire for sugar. 

"Hey, I'm here to-" he started to say when he noticed Berlin and Irisa making out against the counter. Averting his eyes from a scene he knew he shouldn’t be witnessing, he let out a loud cough to make his presence known. 

"Oh, hi," Berlin said, pulling away from Irisa and pressing her fingers to her smiling lips as Irisa avoided meeting Alak’s gaze in embarrassment.

"The cookies are over here," Irisa said as if nothing had happened. "They're wrapped and ready to go," she added. 

"Great, thanks." Alak took out one of the cookies, breaking off a piece for Luke and keeping the rest for himself. He was surprised by how good they tasted given the empty bottle of wine beside them. "So, I take it you had more fun than expected," he asked Berlin who had spent the entire morning complaining that she didn't know how to bake and hated everything about every holiday.

"I found the Christmas spirit," Berlin said with an understated shrug, her wide smile betraying her attempt at nonchalance. 

"Right, the Christmas spirit. I forgot that's what the kids are calling chardonnay these days." 

"That was…" Irisa cast a sidelong glance at the wine, guilt written all over her face. "That was in the kitchen before we got here."

"Was it open before you got here?" Alak asked.

"We plead the fifth," Berlin said. "We did our jobs. How any bottles of wine may or may not have gotten open or what activities we may or may not have engaged in after completing those jobs is simply no one else's business." 

"Uh-huh." Alak nodded, smiling as he said, "come on, Luke, let's go share these with your friends," and with one last knowing smile to Berlin and Irisa, he added, "and then we can discuss why pleading the fifth is pointless when the United States doesn't exist anymore."

"It's an expression," Berlin shouted after him.

"I wasn't talking to you," Alak said. "I was talking to my child - my child who I can only hope will have a better understanding of history than the two of you."


End file.
